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U.S. loses to RPI in pre-WJC scrimmage12.19.2010 / 9:00 PM ET

The U.S. National Junior Team opened its pre-World Junior Championship tournament schedule on Sunday with a 4-3 shootout setback to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

The contest was the first of three pre-tournament games slated to prepare the U.S. for the 2011 IIHF WJC scheduled Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Buffalso, N.Y. The 29-player roster will be trimmed to 22 on Wednesday morning.

Iiro Pakarinen could be called a loud player. After going unselected in his first year of eligibility, he's hoping he makes enough noise for NHL scouts to hear him this season for the 2011 Entry Draft.

It's not from his mouth, however, where the noise originates. It's the thunderous checks and rattling boards that seem to follow him everywhere he skates.

A 6-foot-1, 198-pound right wing, Pakarinen is in his second season with KalPa Kuopio in the Finnish Elite League, where he has 5 points in 28 games. He debuted at the top level of professional hockey there last season, scoring 8 points in 38 games after 12 points in 11 games with KalPa's junior team. Just 19, it's been an adjustment playing against bigger, stronger men, but Pakarinen said he's having fun.

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Shane McColgan is a right wing for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. McColgan, the only U.S.-born player selected in the first round of the WHL's 2008 bantam draft, finished runner-up to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Red Deer Rebels) as the league's top rookie in 2009-10 after posting 25 goals and 69 points in 71 games. Prior to joining the Rockets, the Manhattan Beach, Calif., native played for the Los Angeles Junior Kings and produced 14 goals and 35 assists in 44 games. A participant of the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series in August, McColgan has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

Hello again. Everything is going really well at Kelowna at this point in the season. The BC Division in the Western Conference is really tight … just a few points separate the last place team and the first. We're 1-1 on our Alberta swing here and we've come a long way since the beginning of the year. At one point, we were 4-10 and now we're 17-14 (7-3 over last 10) and one of the best teams in the league right now.

I know I'm second on the team in scoring, but I'm struggling right now scoring goals, but every player goes through that and I just need to shoot the puck a little more. Mitch Callahan is first in scoring and he's having a great year so far. I think I can bring more to the table for the team, but the most important thing is we're doing pretty well right now as a team, so that's all that matters.

I was really happy for (Kelowna linemate) Mitch Callahan (Whittier, Calif.) when he got word he made the U.S. National Junior Team camp. I was actually with him when he got the phone call. It's his last year to make the team and he has a really good chance this year. No one that went to the camp, I think , can play his role any better than he can so. There's an advantage there and obviously he's having a pretty good year with us this season and I enjoy playing with him.

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a center for the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. Nugent-Hopkins, selected first overall in the WHL's 2008 bantam draft, was named the league's top rookie in 2009-10 after posting 24 goals and 65 points in 67 games. He was an assistant captain for Team Canada at the Under-18 2010 Ivan Hlinka Memorial and scored the game-winner against Team USA in a 1-0 victory during the gold-medal game. Nugent-Hopkins, who participated in the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series in August, has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

We are pretty close to half way through the season now and our team, the Red Deer Rebels are sitting second in our conference and first in our division with a record of 20-7-3 with 2 shootout losses. We definitely are happy with the way things are going right now and we want to keep it going like this. Personally, in the 30 games so far I have 8 goals and 32 assists for 40 points. I am pretty happy with how things are going personally and with the team. Me and my two linemates are really starting to find good chemistry with each other. I am playing with Andre Kudrna, and John Persson.

The team had a really good weekend, beating the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday, and the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday. Brandon had just got Brayden Schenn back so they had a boost on their team and it was good to play against him.

All five German players selected at the 2010 Entry Draft were invited to the preliminary camp for the German National Junior Team that will compete in Group A at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., beginning later this month.

As the youngest of three brothers, Boone Jenner always needed eyes in the back of his head.

After all, you never know when the next bale of hay is going to be headed in your direction.

Jenner's family owns and operates a cattle farm in Dorchester, Ont., a small town just east of London. As a youngster, he'd be outside working on the farm; even today there's no excuse for not chipping in despite the fact he's on the verge of becoming the first of the Jenner clan to reach the NHL.

"We grew up on a farm just outside of Dorchester … a bunch of beef cows," he told NHL.com. "About 100 Angus cows. It was fun. Looking back, it made me a better person all-round with all the chores I had to do and stuff. It was a lot of fun. People think you get up early, but we only needed to get up early some mornings. It really wasn't too bad."

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Scott Mayfield is a defenseman for the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League. Committed to the University of Denver for the 2011-12 academic season, he also played a part in the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament for Team USA. Mayfield, who participated in the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series in August, has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

Thoughts on gold medal; MVP honors12.01.2010 / 9:00 AM ET

Hello, I'm back to tell you about one of the most memorable months in my hockey career. A lot of amazing things happened at the World Junior A Challenge in Penticton, British Columbia, at the start of November.

But first, I want to share a little about my team, the Youngstown Phantoms. The month of November has been a huge rollercoaster for us. We started the month in a slump and couldn’t dig ourselves out until about two weeks ago. The biggest problem was our consistency in bearing down and capitalizing on the chances we had. The team, including me, has had so many chances but has not produced enough from them.

Rocco Grimaldi believes size and strength only can get you so far. Eventually, speed and smarts will win out.

It's a formula that has worked liked a charm for the 5-foot-6, 163-pound center with the U.S. National Team Developmental Program's Under-18 team.

"If ever I lose a battle in the corner with a big guy, it's not because he's bigger or stronger than me, it's because I did something wrong and he just took advantage," the 17-year-old Grimaldi told NHL.com. "I didn't get in or get out quick enough. It really makes no difference to me how much a guy weighs. I'll go in there no matter what because if I'm not willing to do that, then my teammates wouldn't be able to rely on me and I definitely want them to be able to rely on me at all times."

The biggest number for Ryan Strome this season might not be the goals, assists or points he scores for the Ontario Hockey League's Niagara IceDogs, or where he lands in NHL Central Scouting's rankings for the 2011 Entry Draft -- as all those numbers likely will be high, by the way.

No, for Strome, the biggest number will be the video starts for the spectacular goal he scored against the Plymouth Whalers on Oct. 28.

Strome takes a pass from teammate Steven Shipley in the neutral zone, and he accelerates down the left side and across the Plymouth blue line. He fakes going inside on a Whalers defender and then blows around him to the outside before going right to the net. When the goalie goes into his butterfly, Strome starts to go behind the net but instead uses his reach to tuck the puck behind the goalie, just inside the left post.

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Seth Ambroz is a right wing for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Ambroz, committed to the University of Minnesota in the fall of 2011, was just 15-years-old when he burst upon the USHL scene as a rookie in 2008-09. He led the U.S. Under-17 Team to a 3-0-0 mark with 5 goals at the 2009 Four Nations Cup and was selected to the U.S. U-18 team for the 2010 Ivan Hlinka Memorial. He entered the 2010-11 campaign already having produced 36 goals, 80 points and 206 penalty minutes in 116 games in Omaha. A participant of the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series in August, Ambroz has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

Giving Thanks with a gold medal11.24.2010 / 9:00 AM ET

Well, it was a pretty exciting week.

I won a gold medal playing for the U.S. Select Team in Penticton, B.C. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. We really had a great team and playing in that atmosphere (at South Okanagan Event Center) was outstanding. I didn't know how big it would be or how big this tournament was, but once I got there, I figured it out quickly. To be able to beat Canada (East) in Canada for the gold medal was pretty awesome.

The crowds were definitely into the games. Once we got to the final game, I'm pretty sure it was sold out. They didn't want a U.S. team coming in and winning on their home ice so everything was kind of against us as far as fans go. It was definitely a hostile environment, everyone was just rooting against you.